Heckman Discusses Early Childhood Education at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

On January 17th, 2017 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Professor Heckman discussed his latest research on a panel introduced by Shakira titled “Human Development is Economic Development: Early Childhood Programs and Skill Development”.His latest research at the Center shows that high quality birth-to-five programs for disadvantaged children can deliver a 13% per year return on investment. In conversation with Michael Feigelson from the Bernard van Leer Foundation, and Nicholas Kristof from the New York Times, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Heckman discussed how investing in quality early childhood education for disadvantaged children reduces inequality, promotes social mobility and strengthens national economies across the globe.